


Face to Face

by unitchiefprentiss



Series: To Build a Home [9]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:27:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27733015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unitchiefprentiss/pseuds/unitchiefprentiss
Summary: Another prompt from my CuriousCat! (@ filmmilfs on Twitter): emily putting hazel to bed one night, and hazel innocently asks what would happen if an "unshrub" took her, which later leads to emily talking and fretting to andrew, and remembering how izzy rogers got close to one of jj's sons.
Relationships: Andrew Mendoza/Emily Prentiss
Series: To Build a Home [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1653055
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Face to Face

Fall 2025

Emily thinks she and Andrew have done a decent job at protecting the girls from the horrors of their jobs. They keep the home office they share locked, and never bring any work into other parts of the house. They’re careful to only talk about things when the girls aren’t around. 

Keely, of course, knows more than she lets on being nearly grown. Hazel is four now, and has officially reached the age of never ending questions and curiosity. 

She’s not one to settle for short answers, either. She wants to know everything. About almost everything. So, of course she’s curious about where her parents go when they go to work. For now, she’s content with the simple answers that they give her. How sometimes there are people that need help, and Emily and Andrew do what they can to help them. 

As Emily is getting Hazel ready for bed one night, she notices the girl is much quieter than usual. Her brows are furrowed, as if she’s deep in thought. 

“What are you thinking about?” Emily asks. 

“What happens if a unshrub takes me?” 

It’s random, totally unprompted and catches Emily completely off guard. 

She pauses the braid she’s working on. 

“Where’d you learn that word?” Emily settles on asking. 

“Uncle Spence. He said that’s what you call bad guys. Or girls.” Hazel says with a shrug. 

“What else did he tell you?” Emily wonders. 

“That you find them and make them go to jail.” Hazel says. “What happens if a unshrub takes me?” She asks again, more persistently. 

“That’s not going to happen.” Emily says, focusing again on the braid. Hazel turns her head as far as she can to the side. 

“It could.” She says. “Would you find me?” She asks. 

Emily sighs, finishing up Hazel’s hair quickly and pulling the girl into her lap. 

“Of course I would find you. Your daddy and I would do anything for you, and that includes keeping you safe so that nothing like that ever happens, okay? I don’t want you to worry about that.” She says, mentally making a note to have a talk with Reid. 

Hazel doesn’t say anything in response. 

“Do you worry about that a lot?” Emily wonders. 

Hazel shrugs. “Only when you’re gone.” 

Emily frowns. “Even when I’m not here, you’re safe.” She tells her. 

“How come unshrubs take people sometimes?” Hazel asks. 

Emily blows out a breath. Sometimes she thinks it’s this kid’s mission in life to kill her. 

“Lots of reasons, unfortunately.” Emily says. “That’s also part of our job. Finding out why, so we can find people.” She says simply. 

Still unsatisfied, Hazel asks another question. 

“Lots of people go missing?” She asks. 

“More than I would like.” Emily says. 

“You work a lot. So lots of people must get taken.” She reasons. 

Emily smiles softly. “How’d you get so smart?” 

Hazel shrugs. “I was born that way I guess.” 

Emily laughs, wrapping the girl up in a hug, not missing the way Hazel curls into her as closely as she can like she does when she’s upset. 

She gently rubs Hazel’s back. “I don’t want you to worry, okay? There’s lots more good people in the world than bad. People like me and your Daddy that help people when they need it most. I just want you to worry about four year old things, like eating all your vegetables and going to bed on time and learning how to read. Let me and Daddy worry about this stuff.” 

Hazel nods into Emily’s chest, but makes no move to break the hug, so Emily just holds her til she finally speaks up again. 

“Can we read two stories instead of one?” She asks. “I think that it would help me learn how to read.” 

Emily laughs again. “Sure, sweetie. Go pick ‘em out.” 

Before the second book is finished, Hazel is out like a light. Emily pulls the silk sheets up and kisses her daughter’s head before turning off the bedside lamp, leaving the nightlight plugged into the wall as the only source of light. 

She pulls the door almost closed, leaving it open a crack and heads down the hall toward her bedroom. She peeks into Keely’s bedroom and finds the girl on her bed studying. 

“Don’t stay up too late.” She says with a smile as she gently pulls the door closed, leaving it open a crack. 

Finally she finds Andrew already in bed, a book in his lap. It’s one of her favorite things they do together, read separate books in bed. It’s so domestic, so simple, but Emily loves that it’s something they’ve done every single night since they’ve lived together. 

She gets ready for bed quickly and climbs in next to him, resting her head on his chest. 

She feels him start to run his fingers through her now greying hair. 

“You alright?” He ask, closing his book and placing it on the nightstand next to him. 

She sighs. She both loves and hates how he just knows her so well, even the slightest change in mannerisms clues him in to her headspace. 

She loves it, because opening up has never been her strong suit. She hates it, because she can hide nothing from him. 

“Hazel was just asking me what would happen if she got kidnapped.” Emily says. 

“She was?” He asks. 

“Spence apparently explained to her what unsubs are, and that sometimes they take people. He didn’t tell her anything graphic, of course, but now Hazel is so worried about being taken.” Emily sighs. 

Andrew continues to run his hands through Emily’s hair, knowing it comforts her. 

“What’d you tell her?” 

“I told her we would keep her safe, that we wouldn’t let that happen, but even if it did we would find her again.” Emily says. 

“That’s a good answer.” 

“Yeah...” Emily agrees. 

“But?” Andrew prompts. 

“But I hate that I can’t actually promise nothing will ever happen to her.” Emily says. “I just keep thinking ... if we got too close, too involved, with a case and the unsub wanted to hurt us, the girls would be the first target.” She says, hating even putting that thought into the universe but feeling like she had to get it out before her chest exploded. 

“Maybe, maybe not.” Andrew says. 

“It happens. It’s happened to JJ’s son, Henry.” Emily confides. 

“Oh?”

“It was a long time ago, but yeah. He was so little. About Hazel’s age, actually. This unsub had him for awhile, tried to scare him. She used him to keep Will compliant with her. She didn’t hurt him, and I don’t even know if he remembers, but it happened. It could happen. It makes me sick to think about. Someone hurting one of our girls to get to us. I would rather die.” She tells him, not even sure how long she’s been keeping this to herself. Since she let Keely into her life, since the moment she found out she was pregnant. 

Andrew listens, he doesn’t tell her not to worry, doesn’t tell her that’ll never happen, because he knows they can’t make that promise. They never know what a case could bring them. 

“Like you told Hazel, God forbid, should anyone lay a hand on her or Keely, we’d move heaven and earth to find them and bring them home. There’s no smarter agent I know than you.” 

Emily smiles, blushes a little. “I’m not an agent anymore.” 

Andrew rolls his eyes playfully. 

“Just because you turned in that badge and gun doesn’t mean a thing to the bureau, nor the cops you consult with. You’re known for your intelligence and bravery in the field. For people you’ve never met. I can’t imagine what a force you’d be if some psycho had our babies.” He says, gently tucking a piece of hair behind Emily’s ear. 

She sniffles, unaware she had even begun to cry. 

“How do you always know exactly what to say?” 

He smiles. “It’s one of my many talents.” 

They sit together in silence for a few minutes. Emily finally sits up and leans against the headboard. 

“Thank you.” She says. 

Andrew takes her hand in his. “Of course, love.” 

Emily realizes in the days that come that expressing those fears to Andrew has made her less anxious. She of course, worries every single day about her girls. She supposes there won’t be one day for the rest of her life she doesn’t worry, but she feels ready to conquer anything should she need to.


End file.
